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I don't even.... this is... bad...
It gets worse. Recently I've criticized Autism Speaks and their dehumanizing ad campaigns, and I thought that that was as deep as the rabbit hole goes. But today I've learned of... something particularly disturbing. And what I've learned today may or not come up in my Mary & Max review, so I want to get the horror and the disgust and most of the disturbance out of my system. At the very least, I don't want to rant for 15 minutes what should only take up a few seconds in a cohesive review. And no, this article that I'm writing has nothing to do with the movie. Autism Speaks in the world's largest autism-focused charity on the surface, but deeper down they're kind of like PETA with a good reputation. I originally thought that that comparison was a little hyperbolic (non-sarcastic on "little"). What they essentially do is create dehumanizing propaganda towards people with autism(1) using rhetoric that, while it may not cause filicide, it at least empathizes with filicide* of disabled people (which is a serious problem 2). While doing this, Autism Speaks spends the majority of their money looking for a prenatal test to determine if a child has a developmental disorder before they're born (3). I thought it couldn't go any lower when they advocated children not getting vaccines or risk getting autism(4). Once again, the person who claimed that was barred from practicing medicine(5) One person today on my video about Autism Speaks claimed "erm mrenter when you said that this wouldn't lead to reform camps... don't research the JUDGE ROTENBERG CENTER " Hey, when I said don't watch "Where the Dead Go to Die" you guys didn't listen, so we're even now. Then again, people say that I have trouble separating reality from fiction have a lot less credence because I find this stuff more disturbing then I ever found Where the Dead Go to Die... mostly because that movie was fiction. Let's talk about the reality of the Judge Rotenberg Center. The Judge Rotenberg Center, formerly known at the Behavior Research Institute, and shall be hereby known as the JRC is located in Canton, Massachusetts. According to its Wikipedia page, and Wikipedia's neutral tone, "JRC states that the center applies the science and technologies of behavioral psychology to the education and treatment of severe behavior disorders, using several basic principles, including near-zero rejection and expulsion policy regardless of severity of behavior or disability, active treatment rather than warehousing, and use of medications and varied rewards programs JRC is one of the few schools in the United States using aversives (negative stimuli to change behavior), and the only one using skin shocks as aversives, a practice that has attracted considerable criticism from educators, governmental bodies, and disability rights and human rights groups" I'll leave the sources here because I'd rather not break one string of thought, but no one seems to have anything nice to say about the JRC (6-11). Now obviously this is the kind of place that is going to be saying something that's almost entirely opposite to what other people are saying. I suppose we should start with what the commenter claimed. What exactly is a reform camp? In the terms of something along the lines of like a gay reform camp (and not something like a boot camp, determined to bring someone above delinquent behavior), a reform camp is a place where someone is brought involuntarily and is submitted to conversation therapy. Conversion therapy can contain aversion therapy (exposing a patient to a stimulus and discomfort simultaneously), hypnosis, psychotropic drugs, solitary confinement, behavior modification techniques, unreasonable forms of punishment for small infractions, and "positive peer pressure" group sessions towards a total behavior that poses no harm to themselves or others. I'll even be generous and say "no harm to themselves or others in this lifetime" Am I saying that the JRC is a reform camp of disabled people? No, I'm just seeing the comparison holds any merit. Well, let's start with the elephant in the room: they use electric shocks as punishment. Not electroshock therapy. "You do something we don't like and we give you an electric shock." They claim that was only for "severe" infractions, like harming themselves or others. Everyone else claims that it's for even the most minor of things. They use something called a GED, and it looks like this: (12). It was patented by the guy who founded the institution. The people who go to this institution (I refuse to call it a school) are children or adults with autism, mental retardation, and emotional problems. So, what do residents get shocked for? We'll ignore the prank call by an ex-student(13). The shock has been described as "a stinging, ripping, and pulling pain that froze time." I should mention that the person has claimed they are hyper-sensitive to touch in the same article, a symptom that many people with autism share. I restate that this facility primarily focuses in children or adults with autism, mental retardation, and emotional problems. Yes, let's shock people with anxiety problems and let them know at any time they can and will be shocked repeatedly. One of the things that they shock for has been known as fidgeting. Let's talk about stimming. I've used this word before. Stimming is short for self-stimulating behavior and is highly prevalent in people with autism. It's the repetition of physical movements, sounds or repeatedly moving objects. Some will head bang, spin an object (like a top), play with the hem of their shirt. I personally rapidly bounce my left leg. Why do they do this? It is how autistic people calm and stimulate themselves, and is sort of a coping mechanism. So, here the JRC are coming along and saying "hey, let's shock these people for coping in pretty much the only way they know how to cope." It should be known that the United Nations does not allow this type of punishment on terrorists. So, where are we on the stats? This one activity is an aversion therapy technique; it's essentially a skinner box and it is used unreasonably on minor infractions. We can't check off drugs because they pledge themselves against using drugs (and expulsion). So, yes, let's take these people with emotional problems off of their anxiety meds and hook them up to a machine that will zap them if they act out of the ordinary. But we can throw solitary confinement about there. According to source 9, for severe infractions you get Loss of Privilege. No, it's not taking away the video games and other rewards they promise you when you go to visit. You're not allowed to talk to anyone and no one is allowed to talk to you. "You could only ask staff 'medical or academic' questions." According to the testimonial, it can last a few hours to months to even a year. Even reading about this managed to trigger my own anxieties. That's not even telling you the stuff that I'm not comfortable relaying here. This, debatably, isn't the worst of this. For those who don't know, denying a minor human contact is undisputedly child abuse. Do these behaviors "prevent people from harming themselves or others." That is irrelevant. This is cruel an unusual punishment if it is in fact, punishment at all. The crime that most residents have is having a mental disability. They use... let's be honest, a shock collar (like the ones people think it's cruel to put on dogs) on people with no clear history of self-harm. Not only that, but these kind of treatments may "fix" behaviors of acting out, but they do not fix the problems—the emotional issues, the mental disabilities. And apparently there is no agency you can go to get out of there, so uh... that's... disgusting. Alright, let's focus on what we can do. The Massachusetts Office of Children attempted to shut the program down through an emergency method, but Judge Rottenberg ruled in the institution's favor and approved "Aversive plans for students." The institution was named after him in 1994, twenty years ago. Just writing about this place has made me sick to my stomach. What can we do? In 2011 Deval Patrick, the governor of Mass imposed rules that only residents whose treatment plans were approved before that time and included the use of the GED, were still permitted to use it. Students and residents entering JRC since 2011 may not have the GED included in their treatment plan. Yeah, let's tell that to the guys who don't listen to rules. They didn't listen to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture saying that they were abusing human rights. This institution started in California. Until someone died by their work and getting physical aversitives banned in that state. Then they moved to Rhode Island. When they weren't cleared to start shocking people, they moved to Massachusetts. What can we do? I wish I had the answer to that. I wish that places like this didn't exist. I wish people knew how to properly guide people with mental issues. Many people are still afraid of them, like they can attack at any second because "they cannot learn the rules of society." And apparently the JRC was a service provider during an Autism Speaks event (14). Any autism advocacy group worth its salt has nothing good to say about this institution. And according to that source, apparently the vaccines wasn't the first time Autism Speaks back-peddled. This is not something that happened 50 years ago. This is something that is happening right now. And it makes me angry. It makes me sad. It makes me scared. I wish I could do something, beyond just talking about it. Even to 100,000 people, it just doesn't feel like it's enough. Right now, right this second, all I can ask is that you spread awareness. *Filicide: the murder of one's own child # www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mycxS… # autisticadvocacy.org/tag/filic… # autisticadvocacy.org/wp-conten… # www.thedailybeast.com/articles… # en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMR_vacc… # autisticadvocacy.org/2014/11/j… # www.cbsnews.com/news/controver… # www.autistichoya.com/p/judge-r… # www.autistichoya.com/2013/01/j… # autisticadvocacy.org/2014/08/p… # web.archive.org/web/2007092912… # psychcentral.com/blog/archives… # psychcentral.com/blog/archives… # www.autistichoya.com/2013/11/a… # ballastexistenz.wordpress.com/… Category:Miscellaneous